Poem: 1946
by Sri Chinmoy
Transliteration and Translation
by Rintu Chakravarthy (Singapore)
Transliteration
Amitraakhkhar
Shadya ashphuto mama jibaatma jedin
Prothom robir aalo kare nirikhkhon
Shei sriti smarite aaj ei aayojon.
Ajad amar shib shaanto shamaahito
Srishtir aadim kaale chilo je bhaashwar
Aapnaar rupe rashe aapni mohito,
Shei deb naaraayan kon abhipraaye
Paathalo daadaare mor ei dharanite.
Naahi jaani sheidin nandan-kaanane
Bishaader kaalo chaaya podechilo kina
Dharanir shyam andhe prashphut golaap
Bidhaataar pujaa laagi godilo je jon
Shei srashtaa projaapati ekoi abhipraaye
Daadaare godeche jaani emon sundar.
Anujer bhakti maakhaa saral pranati
Jaagaabe jaahaar mone pulak nischito,
She barenyo atithir aagamoni dine
Joyullaash hoibena panchajanya bine
Kotha Krishna kotha tabo shakha Dhananjoy
Daadaare aamaare karo akkhoy-abyoy.
Translation
The day my fresh unblossomed soul-flower
Observed the first rays of the Sun –
Today’s arrangements are in remembrance of that memory.
Ageless, immortal, auspicious, peaceful, engrossed in meditation
One who was illumined since the beginning of creation:
Who remains enchanted in His own self-beauty
That Lord Narayana in a certain contemplation
Sent my elder brother1 into this world.
Not sure if on that day in Paradise
The dark shadows of melancholy were cast or not
The blossoming roses in the lap of the dark cloud-hued Earth
Those who harvested for the worship of the Creator
That Creator Prajapati in similar contemplation
Created my elder brother, I know, such beautiful.
The devotion-imbued simple obeisance of the younger brother
Will definitely awaken delight in the heart of
That honourable guest’s auspicious day of arrival
When the celebration will be sans the sounds of the Panchajanya conch.
Where are you Krishna, where is your dear friend Dhananjoy?2
Do make my elder brother and me endless and changeless.
Notes:
This is a facsimile of a poem written by Sri Chinmoy on 17 February 1946, when he was fourteen years old.
1 We are grateful to Rintu for offering a translation for this very lofty tribute by Sri Chinmoy to his elder brother. The question of which elder brother is being referred to is perhaps partially solved by the pet name the poet uses to refer to him. “Dada”, meaning elder brother, is what the young boy called his eldest brother Hriday; whereas he called Chitta “Madhyamda”, meaning middle brother, and Mantu was “Tunuda”, little elder brother.
2 At several points in the Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna addresses Arjuna as Dhananjaya. The epithet means, “the one who conquers wealth.”
Published in Writings — Sri Chinmoy Reflections
Diary Entry
by Sri Chinmoy
while in residence at the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Pondicherry, India
17 February
After returning from his French class, Nolini-da relaxed on his cot and said to me: "I now have to examine you in something. Can you give me the address of Suhasini Bhaumik? I have no idea where I have put her address. She has just written me a letter and I wish to reply to her."
I searched for the address and found it mixed with the papers of an article he was writing.
In the afternoon a little boy named Mana came to Nolini-da with his mother. Nolini-da said to Mana: "Mana, is this the first time you have come to the Ashram?"
Mana said: "No, this is the second time."
Nolini-da said: "Ah, then you and I are old friends."
Published in A Service-Flame and a Service-Sun
Questions on Happiness
answered by Sri Chinmoy
at a meeting of his New Jersey Centre
Question: Is it better to be sincerely sad or falsely happy?
Sri Chinmoy: First of all, it is always better to be sincerely happy. Why should we give a chance to unhappiness? Let us be sincerely happy. That is the goal. Why should we even become falsely happy? Let us wait for happiness, cry for it. If we don’t get pure, clear water to drink when we are thirsty, we don’t drink filthy water; we wait for clear water. We look here and there until we get clean, pure water.
If you are sincerely unhappy, use the antidote. Cry more within. Be more spiritual. Increase your inner cry. Then your unhappiness will be illumined. Your inner cry will make your unhappiness go away. But do not stick to unhappiness or to false happiness. Like false coins, they will be detected. Even you yourself will catch them, because they are false. Again, if you are really happy, if you show off your happiness to others, they will only be jealous. If you are fortunate enough to realise God today, although others know they will get much benefit from your realisation, still they will become jealous. Your happiness does not matter to others.
The best thing is for you to be always happy, but not to show off your happiness. But if you can’t have real inner happiness, instead of displaying false happiness, try to use the medicine, which is your inner cry. That is the best. Instead of becoming insincere, the best thing is to immediately take medicine.
Question: Where does true happiness lie?
Sri Chinmoy: True happiness lies in self-giving to the Supreme inside you — only there; no other place. Constant self-giving to the Supreme inside you will give you happiness.
Question: What is the soul's happiness?
Sri Chinmoy: Constant oneness with the Absolute Supreme. The soul has established constant, inseparable oneness with the Supreme, in the Supreme. That is the soul’s happiness.
Question: What is the difference between happiness, joy and bliss?
Sri Chinmoy: When you have joy, that joy is in the central being, in the heart itself. When you are really joyful, that joy usually remains inside the heart with utmost confidence. Inner joy means real inner security. But if you are happy, it can be on a much lower plane of consciousness — on the physical plane, the vital plane, or the mental plane. Happiness is all physical, vital or mental. Happiness is like a bird that spreads its wings. Joy is a bird that can fly from the heart. Joy is superior to happiness. When you have inner joy, you have inner security. With bliss, there is no comparison. Bliss is much higher, much superior to joy. It is infinitely superior to both joy and happiness. If you can experience bliss, you become immortal. It is something from a much higher plane of consciousness.
Question: How can we feel happiness when we displease you?
Sri Chinmoy: Don’t displease me. The answer is there in the question. You know that if you displease me, you will not be happy, so the best thing is not to displease me. When you displease me, the real in you will always suffer; only the false will be able to be happy.
Question: How can we realise that only God's Will can give us happiness?
Sri Chinmoy: Just see what happens when you fulfil your own will. It is all frustration. When you fulfil God’s Will, you get only joy. All of you have experienced this a few times, so you have enough proof. When you have fulfilled your own desires or achieved something in your own way, have you really got satisfaction? Immediately the answer will be ‘no’. But God’s way will definitely give you satisfaction.
Question: When we feel unhappy, is it because we are not listening to our Inner Pilot, or is the Supreme having an experience in us?
Sri Chinmoy: The Supreme is not having a necessary experience. It is only that you have fallen from your highest height. Sometimes the Supreme may want to have an experience of unhappiness in you, but only on rare occasions. If you people feel sad every day, that is not because the Supreme wants to have an experience. In your inner life you have reached some height; then you fall. Every day, every hour, you fall from the reality-height. It is not that God has nothing else to do but to experience unhappiness in and through you. Your consciousness has dropped; therefore, you are unhappy. On rare occasions only will God deliberately experience unhappiness in and through you.
Question: How can we remain happy in the face of obstacles?
Sri Chinmoy: Make progress. Just because there are hurdles, will you give up the race? Between you and the goal there are a few obstacles, but you have to overcome them. If you say, “I don’t want to overcome the obstacles, but I want to reach the goal,” how can you expect to do it? If you are just at the starting point, you have to be prepared to encounter difficulties. There will be some obstacles, to see whether you sincerely want to reach the goal. When you have to cross over a difficult hurdle, you will see whether you really want to reach the goal or not.
This is not actually a test, but if you do not encounter any obstacles, you will not value the goal. If God comes and stands in front of you at this moment, you will not value Him; nobody will value Him. In order to value Him, you have to work and strive and struggle for Him. God can come and give you God-realisation immediately, but you will not know how to value it properly. One great spiritual Master had a nephew who used to serve him in every way. When he gave this nephew just an iota of his own realisation, the nephew immediately said, “You and I have become one now in spiritual height.” He felt that there was no need for him to serve his Guru in any way. In your case also, if you are not prepared, you will not value God. The goal is God. You have to make full inner preparation. What I call preparation in the real spiritual sense, your ordinary mind will call an obstacle.
Question: Is it possible to experience happiness on the spiritual plane while you are unhappy on the physical plane?
Sri Chinmoy: On the physical plane, yes; on the mental plane, no. Suppose you have a very bad headache or cold. If you have a good meditation, you will actually have real inner happiness while on the outer plane you may still have a headache. If your happiness is very strong and powerful, it can either take away the physical ailment, or take away the unhappiness that that ailment is causing you in the outer plane. Again, a physical ailment can be transformed into happiness itself if you have happiness in your inner world. If you are very strong, you will be able to transform physical misery.
Question: Could my own inner joy help the rest of my family, like my husband?
Sri Chinmoy: It is quite possible. Everything is divinely or undivinely contagious. Not only does the sadness or depression of others affect us, but their happiness also can easily enter into us. It is not only possible; it is inevitable. If you stay with a bad person, it is contagious. If you stay with a good person, it is also contagious. Why do birds of a feather flock together? Because consciously they help each other. Your husband does not follow the spiritual life, but your very presence will give him joy in a very small measure. If you are happy, then eventually he also can become happy. But if he tries and cries, then he will have happiness sooner.
Sometimes some of you come here feeling very unhappy. But after you mix with your spiritual brothers and sisters and meditate with me here in your spiritual home, then you become happy. We try to create a spiritual atmosphere, and from that atmosphere you get happiness. You didn’t have happiness, but the room had it, or some individual had it. By mixing with them you have caught their happiness like a contagious disease.
Question: Is it more effective to pray for peace of mind or for cheerfulness when you are unhappy?
Sri Chinmoy: If you are unhappy, then pray to the Supreme for happiness. If you have restlessness, then pray for peace of mind. If you have a pain in your leg, you do not pray to God to cure your head. Your head is all right, so you pray to God to cure your leg. Here also, your disease is unhappiness. What you need to cure it is happiness. In peace of mind there is happiness, true ; but it belongs to a different category. When your whole being is restless, when you can’t meditate even for a fleeting second, when you are full of worries, anxieties and negative qualities, then what you need is peace of mind. If you do have real peace of mind, naturally happiness will also be there.
If you are not happy, you have to know where you are affected. Right now you have to take care of that place first. Then examine the entire being. If your finger is hurt, take care of your finger. Afterwards, you can take exercise to improve the condition of your whole body. If your whole body is in perfect condition, your finger won’t hurt. But when you are suffering at a particular place, try to administer medicine there. When that place is disturbing you less, then you can take care of your entire body so that you will not be affected there or at any other place.
Question: Often when I first wake up in the morning, I don't feel happy.
Sri Chinmoy: For a few minutes after you wake up, for four or five minutes, don’t get up; just meditate in bed. Before you leave the bed it is always advisable to think of the Supreme for a few minutes. Then get up and do your proper meditation. But you have to be sure you will be able to get up in three or four minutes. Otherwise, you will just go back to sleep and you will say that you have meditated for two hours.
Question: Will outer happiness help our spiritual progress?
Sri Chinmoy: If you are happy, it will help you to a great extent. That is the only way. If you are unhappy, you won’t make any progress at all. On the contrary, you will be marching backwards. Real outer happiness is not self-deception. It does not come from wasting time and indulging in pleasure-life. Real outer happiness is something totally different. It comes from inner satisfaction, inner joy.
Question: Sometimes when I am happy I want to share my happiness with others and help them be happy. Is this possible?
Sri Chinmoy: Certainly. If you are happy, share with your near and dear ones. But first see if they are receptive, if they want to receive from you. Out of jealousy or for malicious reasons, they may not want to accept your happiness. Then it is a mere waste. And if you see somebody who is really hostile to you, or with whom you do not have any inner affinity, it is useless to try to share happiness with that person. Do share, but only if they are receptive. If not, then you are only wasting your inner wealth. They are not going to get any benefit, and you are going to give away some of your own happiness. When happiness is received, light and knowledge will increase. When it is not received, nothing will increase.
Published in AUM – Vol. 3, No. 5, 27 May 1976
God, Prophet and Religion
by Sri Chinmoy
Sri Chinmoy is invited to be the keynote speaker at the World Parliament of Religion and Culture in Toronto by Sree Sree Mentu Maharaj, founder of the Universal Peace Mission.
The three-day parliament is held in Convocation Hall, a domed rotunda on the grounds of the University of Toronto, Canada.
Listen to the original lecture by Sri Chinmoy
This lecture is published in a compilation of Sri Chinmoy’s writings, entitled ‘Beyond the Welkin Rim’, by Vidagdha Bennett.
A Seeker’s Life
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts
My life is earth’s experience-gift.
My life is Heaven’s Compassion-Boon.My life is a game. When I break some rules secretly, the rules break me not only openly but very violently. I am planning to give my life to God for His use. I feel deep within that He can do infinitely more with it than I ever possibly can.
I am always happy. Do you want to know why? I am happy because all my life I have been building bridges and not walls. I am always happy. Do you want to know why? On my way to the highest heights I have not given up my eternally old faithful friends: love-seed, devotion-plant and surrender-tree.
"Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal. -– Longfellow"
A seeker’s life is not only real but also divine. His life is not only earnest but also daring. Needless to say, the grave can never be his goal. Unlike the ordinary human beings, a seeker has two goals: earth-transformation and God-manifestation.
A seeker says to mankind, “Oh, take me! I shall give you what I have: love and service.” A seeker says to God, “Oh, take me! I shall give You what I am: surrender and gratitude.”
A seeker has many good qualities. His ignorance of self-deception is by far the best. Because he does not deceive himself, God’s Transcendental Pride is all for him. God says to the seeker, “My child, in you I have My Infinity’s Peace, Eternity’s Love and Immortality’s Delight.”
"It is not doing the thing we like to do, but liking to do the things we have to, that makes life blessed. –- Goethe"
What we like to do is to draw the world’s attention. Therefore, how can we be blessed? The offering of gratitude to the Inner Pilot in all human beings is the best virtue, and that virtue makes our life really and truly blessed.
Published in The Oneness of the Eastern Heart and the Western Mind, part 3
Silence Within, Sound Without
A lecture by Sri Chinmoy
at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Silence within, sound without. Silence-Eternity within, Sound-Infinity without. Silence-Eternity-Dream within, Sound-Infinity-Reality without.
Silence is God the Creator. Sound is God the creation. Silence is the progress-delight of God the Creator. Sound is the success-height of God the creation.
Silence is never, never afraid of sound, but sound is always afraid of Eternity's and Immortality's vastness-silence.
My silence-heart-life is a non-stop aspiration-flight to my transcendental Goal — the Goal of the ever-transcending Beyond. My sound-mind-life quite often carries me into a tenebrous indolence-coma.
With my silence-heart, I always claim God as my own, very own. With my sound-mind, at times I praise God and at times I blame God, depending on my success-smiles and failure-cries.
When my sound-life lives in the shackles of bondage, when I live only in my buried hopes, at that time my silence-heart comes to the fore and inspires me with new hope, new inspiration, new aspiration and new dedication to go and visit my Lord's Forgiveness-Heart, Compassion-Eye and Protection-Feet.
My silence-soul is the only teacher that teaches me how to speak to God and how to listen to God devotedly, soulfully and unconditionally.
Man's eternal question: "Where is God?" God's eternal question: "How to please man?"
Silence has the answer to these questions. Indeed, silence is the answer.
Silence, silence!
Published in My Heart’s Peace-Offering